page_title: S-class ferry
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: S-class ferry / History
caption_attribution_description: English: BC Ferries, MV Spirit of Vancouver Island en route from Victoria to Vancouver.
context_page_description: S-class ferries are roll-on/roll-off ferries operated by BC Ferries in British Columbia, Canada. They are the largest ferries in the BC Ferries fleet. The class comprises two ships, Spirit of British Columbia and Spirit of Vancouver Island, which were completed in 1993 and 1994 respectively. They serve the ferry route between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay. In 2017, the class underwent conversion to a dual-fuel propulsion system that would allow them to use either marine diesel fuel or liquefied natural gas.
context_section_description: The two ferries, Spirit of British Columbia and Spirit of Vancouver Island, were constructed in two pieces. The ferries' foreparts were built by Allied Shipbuilders of North Vancouver, British Columbia. The rest of the ships was constructed by Integrated Ferry of Esquimalt, British Columbia. The two sections were joined and Spirit of British Columbia was completed in February 1993, with Spirit of Vancouver Isand completed in February 1994. Spirit of British Columbia was assigned to the Tsawwassen–Swartz Bay route and Spirit of Vancouver Island to the inverse Swartz Bay–Tsawwassen route.
  On September 14, 2000, Spirit of Vancouver Island collided with the 9.72-metre (31.9 ft) Star Ruby while attempting to overtake the vessel in a narrow channel. The accident report found that pleasure craft had ignored all warnings of the impending collision. Two passengers aboard Star Ruby later died as a result of their injuries sustained by the collision. From 2005 to 2006, the S-class ferries underwent major refits.
  In 2017, it was announced that the two S-class ferries would undergo a $140 million conversion to a dual-fuel system to allow the vessels to use liquefied natural gas as fuel in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Further modifications during the conversion included the replacement of navigation and propulsion systems and a general overhaul. Passenger areas were modified as well. Spirit of British Columbia was the first to undergo the conversion at the Remontowa Ship Repair Yard in Gdańsk, Poland, between 2017 and 2018. Spirit of Vancouver Island's retrofit began in September 2018 and the vessel returned to service in April 2019. The conversion of Spirit of British Columbia earned BC Ferries the Shippax Retrofit Award, which identifies innovation in the ferry industry.
caption: Spirit of Vancouver Island
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